


4 hours and then some

by phantomchajo



Series: SilverHawks: Beta-Verse [8]
Category: SilverHawks
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-14
Updated: 2014-01-14
Packaged: 2018-01-08 16:25:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1134873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomchajo/pseuds/phantomchajo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With flight time restricted, Wolfstorm will take any time up she can get.</p>
            </blockquote>





	4 hours and then some

**Author's Note:**

> This entire series was written as an RP on a message board I created, so when you see '~~' it means a change in writers.

4 hours & Then some

  
  


'"What? what do you mean you're not flying today!" Zan said a look of almost crushing disappointment crossing her features before going into the normal mask. "What the hell happened to change it? I know damned well that  nothing went on since yesterday to get it canceled. Don't know about you, but I know the bastards up in flight control take sadistic pleasure in telling me when it's canned." Crossing her arms over her chest.

Aurora sighed, rubbing her temple. She knew that look, if it had been on anyone under the age of 7 it would be considered a 'pout'. "Zan, I said I wasn't going to be flying with you, not that You are not going to be flying today. There's been a special request put in. Someone else is going to be flying with you today."

"Aurrooooraa, Onee-chan..." Zan whined softly at her as she flopped down in a ready-room chair.

Zan in a whining mood was worse than in a pouting mood. "Don't 'big sister' me Zan. Please, don't screw things up today. No hot-shot stunts, no fly-bys of the tower, no taunting of the pilot trainees that are going up today either. Just behave, ok?" Aurora crouched down next to her, placing her hand on the pilot's arm.

As if on cue, General Rawling, Commander Stargazer and Col. Bluegrass entered through the door.

"oh look, here comes the 3 stooges," Zan muttered.

Aurora shot her a warning glare as she stood up. "Zan..."

Zan arched an eyebrow, getting a suspicious look. "Who Aurora? Who's flying with me today if not you." At Aurora's silence Zan's eye widened a fraction as she looked at the trio. "Don't tell me it's the fucking cowboy that's gonna be going up with me," she hissed softly, keeping her voice down. While normally she'd have spoken louder, she didn't want Aurora in trouble for her screw-ups.

"Well.. no. It's not," Aurora admitted, glancing back at both SilverHawks then back to Zan. There was only one other that might have put in a request.

Zan shot a glance at the pair of Silverhawks as she got a sinking suspicion who would be her co-pilot for the day. "No... No no no.. Not Him. Not that Fu-"

"Zan!" Aurora cut her off. "Listen, I don't have the rank to override the decision or deny the request. Commander Stargazer made it and General Rawling granted it."

Zan looked away before nodding her head once as she stood up "Feh.. fine. Whatever, See you on the hanger floor." She didn't look at the trio as she passed them by.

"Problems Cadet Buchanan?" Rawlins asked.

"No sir. None at all," the silent 'I hope' could very well be heard at the end of her sentence.');

~~

The craft was big for a fighter Stargazer thought.  It had wings that swept forward and were currently folded over head, allowing it to fit in a relatively small hangar.  The cockpit was open and he could already see the captain bending over the side of the craft, checking instruments.  “What do you call this Monstrosity?”

“The Yukikaze,” Zan growled trying to be polite as she possibly could.  For Aurora’s sake if nothing else.  And for Zan being polite meant being curt, with no opinions tacked on.  Those tended to get her in trouble.

“Yukikaze, eh?” Stargazer mumbled, running his gold hand over the ship’s nose.  “Pretty slick.”

“It’s the ‘slickest’ ship in the academy,” Zan explained, the Yukikaze being the one thing she felt she could talk about without getting written up.  “It has a top speed of Mach 4, is space certified and it can hit orbit from the ground. ‘Slick’ enough for ya’?”

“What can hit past Lightspeed?” Stargazer asked, walking around the fuselage inspecting the ship.

“It can’t hit Lightspeed,” Zan told him busying herself in the cockpit, running through a pre-flight check up.

“It can’t?  Then how do you cart these things around?  They’re too damn big to ride in the belly of a starship.  Even the damn Leviathans couldn’t carry more than a squadron of these things.”

Zan shook her head.  Why, oh why, did she get stuck with Commander Magoo?  “It’s a scout ship.  Who would need a squadron of scout ships?”

“A scout ship!?  You expect me to fly around a damned scout ship?” Stargazer asked angrily, sounding almost insulted.

“No,” Zan growled, irritation rising too fast for her to check it.  “I expect you to get in and shut up!”

“What!?!?” Stargazer shot, his face turning red, forcing Zan to question the wisdom of what she said.  Onee-chan was going to be so pissed...  “Bad enough this is a damn scout ship, now you expect me to ride bitch!?  I didn’t come all this way to stare out the back window!”

Zan took several deep breaths forcing herself to remain calm.  “I get four to twenty hours of flight time a month. I’m not allowed up without a supervisor, or in anything with weapons.” she repeated forcing has much serenity into her voice as possible.

“Four to Twenty a month.  With a supervisor, and no weapons?  What kind of Silverhawk are you?”

Zan eyes grew wide and her rage threatened to consume her.  “Here’s a newsflash for you damned fossil!  I’m the base psycho!  You think they let a psycho up with a shit load of weapons?!”  Zan spat, her teeth bared as she jumped from the ladder to the cockpit and got right in the commander’s face.

He didn’t even flinch.  “Base psycho?  Please, you’re just a bratty little girl who’s covers up her mistakes with anger.”

Zan voice choked up in her throat, her eyes shifting from blue to a silvery color.  “Who the hell do you think you are?!” she growled, her voice low and threatening.

“I’m Commander Robert S. Stargazer!” he retorted. “Who are you!?”

Zan started, her eyes shifting to a shade of blue. She was speechless.

“That’s right,” Stargazer shot, his eye blazing.  “You’re no one.  You can wave your fists and scream all you want, and it may scare all these punks who’ve never seen real battle but it won’t work on me.  Have you ever piloted a Starfire through a cloud of enemy fighters?  Have you ever seen your co-pilot, a man you’ve known your entire life, have his head blown off when his station exploded in his face?

“Have you ever seen an enemy warship turn its guns on you?  Have you seen those guns warm up, have you ever seen a blast you’re sure will kill you go off?  And are you still alive to tell the tale?  I’ve seen real battle cadet!  I was forged in fires hot enough to burn the devil himself!  And you think you can intimidate me!?”

Zan was cowed, it was uncomfortable, and not something she dealt with often. Normally her bluster and her violence saved her, scared people off who tried to get critical.  But she knew it wouldn’t work this time.

“I’m not about to let someone on my team who can’t be trusted with managing her own flight time. Nor anyone who has to be supervised and can’t be trusted with weapons.”

“Well I’m all of those,” Zan sighed, her shoulders slumping. She turned around and began shuffling off , “Guess I’m not flying today.”

“Where do you think you’re going?” Stargazer asked.

“Isn’t obvious?  I’m all of those things you won’t tolerate. I’m going to my quarters.”

“Yes, you are all of those things.  You’re also ungrateful.”  Zan turned again her anger depleted, but she cocked an eyebrow as the commander addressed her.  “Yes ungrateful,” he repeated matching her stare.  “The only way I can let you on my team is if you can be trusted with your flight time, with flying solo, and with weapons.”

Zan continued to stare at him, not understanding.

Stargazer rolled his eye in annoyance.  “Will you pull your head out of your ass, and stop feeling sorry for yourself?!  You can’t earn trust, you can only prove you deserve it.  I’m about give you the opportunity to prove you can be trusted.  Come on,” He said, slapping her on the shoulder, “let’s get you a real ship.”

~~

Zan flinched away from his touch, tossing her head to the side and brushing the unruly locks out of her face as she did. “Hmph…. What ever,” she muttered turning back to the Yukikaze.

Stargazer noted her reaction but didn’t say anything about it. ‘One step at a time,’ he thought to himself. “Where’re you going?” he asked as she turned away and headed back to the scout ship.

Zan snorted softly, “To get my gear, what do you think?”

In just under fifteen minutes, each had a fully armed, fully fueled Fighter ready to go. Much to the training squad’s dismay. Those two had been slated originally for their training today. Now they would either have to wait while two more were prepped, or else go short by two pilots. Needless to say, the hostility between the training squad and Wolfstorm only increased again. And like each time before, it was none of her doing. She just tended to take the hostility to a physical level which ended up with at least one person going to the infirmary while another went to the brig for an overnight visit.

After flipping through the comm. channels till he found the one for the Tower, “Tower this is Romeo Sierra Golf Two Six Three, requesting take-off clearance. I repeat,  RSG263 to Tower, requesting take-off clearance. “

It was several moments of silence before the Tower responded. “Roger that Romeo Sierra Golf Two Six Three, clearance for Take off on Runway Delta Niner. Repeat, RSG263 clearance for take off on runway D9.”

“Roger Tower,” Stargazer replied as he flipped the secondary channel on to listen in on Wolfstorm’s take off clearance request. He’d wait till she had the green light before taxiing to the assigned runway for take off.

Zan sat there for several moments before keying the mike and contacting the Tower on the primary comm. channel. “Tower, this is Zulu Tango Whisky Niner Eight Niner requesting clearance for take off. I repeat, ZTW989 requesting clearance for take off.”

Dead silence from the other side of the comm.. No one in the Tower acknowledged her request.

She took a deep breath, holding it and counting down from twenty before exhaling and again contacting the Control Tower. “Tower, this is Zulu Tango Whisky Niner Eight Niner requesting clearance for take off. I repeat, ZTW989 requesting clearance for take off.”

Again silence meet her request.

She would have made the request a third time if Stargazer hadn’t contacted the tower instead. “RSG263 to Tower, why hasn’t my wingman been cleared for take off?”

“No request have been issued for take off clearance other than yourself RSG263,” came the reply from the control tower.

Stargazer shot a glance to his right where Wolfstorm sat waiting in her ship. Clicks and whirrs could be heard as his mechanical eye focused  on her. Even at this distance, he could tell she was getting ready to just say fuck it, call it quits and then head to the tower to get into a major confrontation with the idiots there, leaving her fighter on the runway blocking others from using it till it could be moved. “Tower, you're full of bullshit on that one. She’s put in the request twice. Now get the wax out of your ears and your thumbs out of your asses and clear her for take off. STAT!”

Squawks and shouts of outrage could be heard over the comm. channel before it went silent suddenly. Nearly five minutes had passed before Tower contacted them again.

“RSG263 and ZTW989 you are both cleared for take off on runway Echo Six. Again RSG263 and ZTW989, you are both cleared for take off on runway Echo Six. Tower Out.”

Zan growled softly at the back of her throat. Runway Echo Six was one of the most challenging and dangerous runways anywhere on the base. It’s original purpose was for VTOL ships. To take off, one had to have full power almost immediately after releasing the brakes, lift off, perform a sharp incline with full afterburners in order to clear the strip before banking sharply to ensure one did not cross into the paths of other incoming and outgoing ships.

Zan snared, balling her fist tight, “Bloody fucking son of a bitches!!” She so wanted to smash in the faces of the smug bastards in the Control Tower at the moment. Taking several deep breaths to try and calm herself somewhat before she hailed Stargazer. “You first or shall I?”

~~

"So, do you fly, little lady?"

Aurora pulled up the zipper on her flight suit, stifling a rude answer.  "Not as such," she replied, checking her pockets by habit for a bag.  Without Zan's antics to deal with today, she didn't anticipate her lunch deciding to bail out without her.  But she'd seen the simulator replay from the day before.  This guy seemed to bust planes like any other cowboy would broncos.  She decided, assured that her emergency supplies were in place, that she wouldn't care for his kind of moves any more than a circuit rider's.  "Zan can't fly without an escort.  Zan can't do much beyond pee and sleep without an escort."

"Sounds like a lot of trouble to go through for one little girl," the colonel replied, tilting his head back.  "Whyn't they just wash her out of the program?"

Aurora smirked.  "You did see her fly yesterday, Colonel?  She killed just about everything up there."

"Including the ship she was supposed to protect."

"No, Colonel.  You did that.  Granted, she was distracted and let you, but their blood, simulated though it may be, is on your hands."  She picked up her helmet and pulled it on over her tied back hair.  "Are you ready then, Colonel?"

"Ma'am?"

"You're my ride for today, didn't anyone tell you?  Zan's up, so I have to be up.  But i understand that your Commander wanted to see what she did with a 'real ship.'  So you have the dubious honor of assisting me in fulfilling my duties."  Her smile grew broader, stopping just short of a smirk, as comprehension dawned on his face.  "Come on.  I'll show you what we're taking."

"It's a monster!"

Aurora ran her hand up the underside of the nose.  "It's a Yukikaze.  A sub-light scout ship.  Zan usually takes this one up, so I don't recommend you change anything you don't have to, or I'll be hearing about it for weeks."  She made her way along the side to the flight of stairs docked at the side.  "Up here.  It's too big for a ladder."

"How the hell does she fly this boat?" Bluegrass asked, settling into the pilot's seat.

"Yukikaze doesn't fly in the traditional sense.  You allow it to ride the air streams, slipping like a leaf from one current to the next."

"Huh?"

 

    "Leaves fall to the ground

    Clouds part; sunlight stings my eyes

    Air too cold to touch."

 

There was a long silence from the front seat.  "Yeah.  Okay.  Whatever.  Fasten your seatbelt, little lady.  This bird, or whatever it is, is going up."

~~

Zan was not happy. In fact she was down right pissed at everything at the moment. From the less than perfect take off, to the way her ship responded to handling to the fact she was up less than ten minutes and already she was having to play dodge.

“God Damn it!” Zan muttered again rolling to port hard, barely avoiding TL from Stargazer. Forcing the nose of the trainer up and applying thrust to climb back to the proper altitude.

“Heh, problems princess? I thought you were the local hotshot,” Stargazer taunted as he followed hard on her tail, not giving her any breaks.

Zan snarled wordlessly back at him. She was use to piloting the graceful Yukikaze, not this blundering brute thing. She knew that if she tried some of the maneuvers in this that she does regularly in the Yukikaze, she’d face the risk of it breaking apart and scattering her across the ether. And on top of it all, she knew Stargazer was playing cat to her mouse.

~~

"Gaaahhh!  Don't fight with it!" Aurora screamed, clutching the panic bars, installed just for her, in utter horror.  "For the love of God, the ground is not supposed to be at that angle!"

"I ain't the one who started it, lady!" Bluegrass shouted back from the pilot's seat, hands bound in a death-grip on the stick.

"It doesn't work that way!  Guide it; don't force it.  Show it the way you want to go, and let it work out how to get there."

"Lady, it's a plane.  Overbuilt, over-glorified, and probably over-priced, but it's a plane when you get down to it.  And there ain't no plane that flies on the 'show-it-where-to-go' theory."  The stick wrenched in his hand, as if in reply, and the whole plane spun in a great lazy circle.

"Don't fight it," Aurora insisted again.  "It's straightening itself out.  Just wait for it to settle, then go gently."

Bluegrass grabbed the stick again and yanked back hard.  "Lady, there's things that's on my list for 'gently,' and flyin' ain't one of them."

Aurora groaned and reached for her 'airsickness' bag.

~~

Zan finally got Stargazer of her ass long enough to get her ship settled. As she did she caught sight of the Yuki and it’s erratic pattern. With a growl she keyed the com. “Listen here shit-head, you trash MY Yukikaze and rank or no rank, I’m going to not only break your bloody hands but your arms all the way up to your neck! And that’s AFTER I beat you bloody!”

“Can it Princess,” Stargazer cut in before Bluegrass had a chance to reply. “We’re not here to see how he flies that monstrosity you can a ship, but how well you fly a real fighter and face off against a live opponent, not a Sim.” As he spoke he came even with her. “now that we’ve gotten the basics out of the way,  I want to see what you can do Princess.”

“Will you fucking stop calling me that you bloody old bastard!” Zan growled.

“Zan!” Aurora warned, nausea could be heard plainly in her voice.

Stargazer chuckled, “I’ll make you a deal, if you can beat me today, I’ll stop calling you that.”

Silence from Zan as she thought it over. “And if I don’t?” she asked.

“If you don’t, well then,” Stargazer let out a laugh. “We’ll have to see.”

Zan growled softly, “I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Tuff shit princess. Take it or leave it,” he shot back.

~~

Zan spat a curse as she watched the Yuki suddenly barrel rolled to the starboard before coming back level again. “Damn it….,” wincing at what she knew was Aurora’s reaction to the wild flying. Granted she had done it a time or two on purpose, but this wasn’t something wholly planned or controlled. “Listen here Rawhide, were you ever fucking trained on how to pilot non-powered sail-planes?”

A few moments of static crackled silence, “Sail-planes? You mean gilders lady?”

Zan growled as she rolled her eyes, “Yes, Gliders you idiot.” Her fingers were dancing over the controls as she kept her eyes on both the space around her as well as what the sensors and radar was telling her. “Try putting that training to use and-” her com beeped once, what ever that was said on the other end lost as the TL warning started it’s high pitched chirping. “Son of a Bitch!”

In the Yuki, Aurora’s head came up long enough for her to get a deep breath to speak a single word. “Zan?” then bile rose once more to the back of her throat as the erratic maneuvers gave her airsickness another mean twist.

“The fucktard’s are up and it’s time to play,” Zan informed her over the com.

“What the hell is going on Princess?” demanded Stargazer from his own fighter as TL warning started going off.

“As I said the Fucktard Training Squad is up,” once again, fingers dancing over the controls as she brought up her weapon’s system to full power. A wicked grin spread across her face. “Time for a little payback boys. You played ‘Yank the Wolf’s Tail’ one too many times while she was chained and defanged. Guess what.. They gave me back my teeth and claws.” With a touch, the loud pounding sounds of hard core combat death rock music flooded the com “ ‘Cry havoc and let slip the Dogs of War!’” she howled then broke away from the others. Zan’s fighter nosed up and started climbing as the afterburners were engaged at full thrust.

~~

"Let go of that god-damned stick before you stall the engines and kill us both," Aurora demanded between bouts of retching.  "At least when Zan makes me lose my lunch, she does it deliberately and not on some half-assed accident."

The ship settled a little, miraculously enough, and Aurora was able to sit back against the seat and rub the chafed areas where she'd been pulling against the harness.  "I hope you're not all this incompetent, or Id feel very badly for the citizens wherever your group is assigned."

"It ain't me, lady, I'm tellin' ya.  Yer bird flies like a turkey in a rainstorm."

"Not if you do it right."  She paused to look out the canopy, then gasped.  "Shit, they're lining up in the sun," she declared, smacking on the back of the seat in front of her.

"What the hell do you want me to do about it?" Bluegrass demanded.  "We're just up here for the view.  I ain't playin' chicken in this ostrich."

"Ass," she spat succinctly, switching on her two-way radio.  "Zan, eyes open.  They're stacking up in the sun to blind you.  Get around them or whatever."

~~

“Why? I want them to think I’m as psychotically crazy as everyone says I am,” Zan replied back with a cackled laugh. She was getting in a better and better mood as the minutes ticked by. Hard core techno remix of Old Rob Zombie’s Hellbilly Deluxe playing nice and loud in the background. “Here chickie, chickie, chickie.” She said as at the last moment, she turned the fighter on it’s side and slide by two oncoming fighters, flashing both the finger.

The strong backwash from her ripping the air currents between them forcing the two pilots to alter their course severely or else face possible stall outs. Yells, curses and staccato orders criss-crossed over the com.

“That Bitc-” , “She’s psycho!” , “What the Fuck type stunt was that??!”, “Stop the chatter squad and get back into formation!”, “She’s Mine!”, “Hell no I’m scoring on her ass,”

“That’s what you think boys,” She crowed as she cut the afterburners, then hit the air brakes to slow so she could flip back over. The inertia forced her forward, harness biting into her shoulders, waist and chest but she ignored it as she tracked everything going on around her. In a matter of seconds she had already formed and discarded several plans of action. Flipping the fighter over end, she applied thrust once more. Between it and the nature of gravity, she was already screaming downwards after the training squad at maximum, threatening to exceed what the fighter could take.

In the back of her mind, something reminded her that this fighter was fully loaded with ammo. With just a flick of the finger, she would be able to take out every one of them. Her finger flicked the switch cover off the thumb control. In less than ten seconds she had a firing solution that would turn the fighter she was tracking into a ball of flaming metal and debris.

“Shit! She’s got lock!” screamed one of the rookies, panic evident in his voice as he tried to shake her. “Someone get her off me!” he begged to his companions. He felt like he had a hound of hell on his ass, wanting his life and soul. As is once he returned to base, both he and the fighter would need to have a good cleaning.

~~

The trigger was a hair's-breadth from firing when the whine of multiple locks screamed in Zan's ear and her hand spasmed open, freeing the stick and causing the ship to jerk.  She cursed and studied her radar, cursing again when she lost count of the bogeys behind her.  Apparently, another squad was up, and she'd just become fox to their hounds.

Gripping the stick again, she pulled up and turned to one side, losing a few of her pursuers, but not nearly enough.  And with another full squad in front of her, some already beginning sweeping turns to get on her six, she had very little room to maneuver.  And the damned ship was still flying like a rock in a hurricane.

Her fist tightened on the stick, guiding the ship back toward the first group of fighters in front of her.  It was far from an ideal tactic, but if she could worm her way in among them, she'd lose locks from the pack on her tail, unless they were insane enough to risk their own men for a shot at her.  Insane like she was.

Her arms were starting to ache with the effort of fighting the jetwash when the screaming of the alarms ceased and she saw their radar blips scatter wildly.  She turned to risk a quick look over her shoulder and saw the planes breaking off every which way, and a violet and indigo ship streaking vertically through the sky.

"36 to 1's a bit unfair, boys," an unfamiliar but distinctly feminine voice called over the comm.  "How about you come play with me for a while?"  The streak coalesced into a purple and blue plane, the distinctive 5-pronged shape marking it as a SilverHawk team ship.  But who the hell was flying it?'

~~

"Who the hell invited you to this 3 ring psycho circus?" Zan muttered, grateful for the breather, but still a bit miffed that someone was trying to muscle in on things. In the back of her mind she absently wondered what had happened to her supposed Wingman, Commander Stargazer.

"Don't knock the cavalry, young lady," Stargazer shot back, his own ship slipping gracefully through a series of evasive maneuvers

"I wouldn't NEED the cavalry if this didn't happen ever frelling time I went up," She groused back, once more joining the fray. "I knock 'em down and they just don't learn. So they throw more at me."

"Tough luck, friend," the unfamiliar voice called again.  "But if I had 3 squads looking up my skirt, I'd be damned happy for a distraction."  The raptor-class vessel spiraled through the pack behind Stargazer, scattering them to the winds as well.

Zan just grumbled as she cranked the music up louder and got to work. Over a half hour later and she still had a trio of persistent pests that just would not take the hint that she had TLed them at least twice, each. Everyone else had apparently gotten the hint to 'go play' somewhere else. "Bloody hell! Don't these idiots get the hint?" Zan snarled as she evaded TL once more.

She had one more joker to pull from her deck of tricks. She normally saved it for last since not only did her followers get chewed out, but so did she. Not that it mattered to her though. "Alright boys, you want me? Then let's see if you got the balls to follow me," she taunted over the COM as she climbed upwards before looping over into a dive to gather speed. The Yuki never needed the extra boost but this ship did. Checking her radar, sure enough they had taken the bait. She leveled out, doing close to Mach 3.5 as she made a beeline for the Tower.

~~

Aurora stepped out of the women's locker room back in uniform and adjusted the band that held her short hair back from her face.   Normally, she would have stayed up as long as Zan, but the Cowboy's inept handling of the Yukikaze had made that impossible, and the CAG had finally called them down, leaving Zan to be supervised by Stargazer.  There wasn't much Aurora could have done from another plane if Zan went off, anyway.

She made her way up into the Tower to watch, helping herself to a cup of coffee and nodding as the Raptor-class ship, designated Sahara Sunrise on the screens, played tag with several of the smaller fighters, keeping them entertained as they gave up following Zan.  Whoever Cadet J. Martin was, Aurora would owe her a word of thanks at some point.

Her pleasure turned to dismay, however, when she saw the usual trio of troublemakers, determined to hang on to Zan's tail and ride her into the ground.  "Oh, crap," she whispered, stomach clenching as Zan's craft pulled up into a high loop.  Then the radio crackled, and she could almost mouth the words in time.

"Tower, this is Wolfstorm requesting a flyby."

The CAG looked up from his screen momentarily and shook his head.  "Negative, Wolfstorm," the radioman replied.  "The pattern is full."

Aurora heard the radio click off on Zan's end, and looked around carefully at the group in the tower, realizing that she didn't recognize any of the faces.  Meaning they'd never seen Zan fly before, and had no idea what was coming.

Zan's fighter came down out of its loop as the trio behind her reached the peak, and shot forward, propelled by gravity and the combustion of jet fuel, at perhaps the same 300 feet from the ground they were at the top of the tower.  She carefully set her coffee down and stepped back against the wall, not noticing the pair of chocolate-brown eyes watching her carefully.

"Here we go," she whispered as the quartet came racing by.

Seconds later, all hell broke loose as wave after wave of sonic booms rippled through the tower.  Anyone not observant enough to set their drink down was drenched and cursing, and the transpara-steel windows were shuddering in their frames.  The tower itself swayed sickeningly, and for a moment, Aurora wished she was back up in the bucking and twisting Yukikaze.  She closed her eyes and pushed her back more firmly into the wall, willing the nausea away.

"How're you ever gonna fly in space if you can't take a little ripple like that?" Bluegrass asked.

She opened her eyes, taking in the pandemonium of the tower crew, and on strangely clean pilot in front of her.  "I'm fine in space, oddly enough," she replied.  "But when the ground under my feet starts doing things it shouldn't, I get all out of whack."  She shook her head at the chaos surrounding them.  "Zan's going to be in so much trouble for this," she said with a sigh.  "I'd better get down to the hangar.  See you later."

~~

Aurora had no sooner left the tower, Bluegrass following a moment later, when the CAG got on the com and delivered a scathing reprimand to not only the quartet involved by the little incident not more than five minutes prior, but to the training squads they belonged to. And that included Stargazer since he was her wingman.

Zan had simply muted the com so she didn’t have to listen to the lambaste and continued on her merry way. Within ten minutes the training squads had retreated back to the landing strip and the hangers. She spent another five minutes lazily flying through the holographic canyon before she decided she had pushed her luck enough for the time being. Her requested permission to land was meet very fast and she was also given a prime landing strip. Chuckling she thought to herself that she must have really pissed the CAG off to get that fast a response.

Unbeknownst to her, the trio so quaintly known as the ‘Bully boys’ had enough time to set up a welcoming surprise for her when she arrived. They had arranged for some members of the training squad to go and distract her wingman for a few so that they could have a few minutes of  ‘alone time’ with her.

Once Zan had landed the trainer she taxied it to the hanger and parked it so that the mechanics could look it over and get it ready for the next flight. As she sat there for a few minutes, straightening her gear and putting things back to order, she was unaware of a certain trio lurking under the wings and fuselage waiting for her. When she climbed out, she wasn’t more than a few steps off the ground when someone grabbed the back of her flight suit and yanked her down and back. Instinctively she tried to hold tighter but her grip slipped off the rung as she was spun. A moment later a meaty fist slammed into her face, knocking her head back and causing her to stagger backwards before falling over a ‘misplaced’ toolbox. She landed hard on the cement, the tool box crashing down beside her with a resounding clatter.

“Aww… did she fall down and hurt herself?” chuckled one of the trio darkly as they gathered around her like wolves to fallen prey.

Zan looked up as she reached up to wipe the warm wetness from her face. Her fingers came away red as she shifted her eyes upwards at the trio. The only thing that had saved her from splitting her skull open on the cement floor was her helmet. Curling her lips back in a snarl she kicked out viciously at the nearest one, catching him in the shin. “You're gonna fucking wish I had been in a minute!” With that she scrambled to her and lunged at a second member of the trio.

~~

Aurora raced across the tarmac, skirting various standing aircraft and dodging fuel trucks, headed as fast as she could toward the hangar.

"What's the rush, little lady?" Bluegrass asked, easily loping alongside her.

"Those three bastards following Zan.  They have friends on the ground, and they're not afraid to use them.  I've eyeballed and elbowed her out of there more than once.  While I'm glued to her, they don't generally attack outright."  She sprinted through the hangar door, winding her way through the gathering crowd.

"Damn," she muttered, stopped a layer back from the edge of the ring surrounding Zan and her opponents.  "Too late."

~~

Stargazer was mad.  Though most would consider that to be his general disposition, he preferred the term, irritable.  He did not suffer fools lightly and in Limbo fools were likely to get themselves killed.  He didn’t think he had anybody on his team who could be considered foolish, and that just made his fuse all the shorter.

He hopped down from his jet and felt the color rush to his face as he saw the squad walking towards him, full of piss and vinegar, cracking their knuckles, lopsided grins plastered on their faces.  Grins that quickly disappeared when Gazer hurled his helmet, striking the leader square in the face.

The helmet impacted with a sickening crunch of bones and cartilage, and rebounding way, giving Gazer a split second to see the crushed nose and blood splayed across his face before the man fell backwards holding his face in his hands.  The fire went out of a few them, and fled the rest as he pulled off his gloves and pushed his sleeves up, giving the trainees a good look at his metal arm, the sun glinting off the steel.

Any fight  remaining in the pilots fled.  No one wanted any part of that in their face.  They ran before him as Stargazer stalked forward, his fists clenched tight, his teeth grinding together.  He heard the sound of fighting up ahead and broke into a run, his blood boiling.

~~

Between the blood smeared across her face from either her nose or lip as well as what trickled down from her scalp and her snarling, she looked like a wild animal. Some point early on her helmet had been lost and part of her flight suit ripped. Not that she noticed though. She was still fighting the trio who took turns it seemed. Two would try and hold her while the third got in some shots.

She was using quite a few dirty tricks to keep the trio from getting the upper hand. Even if they managed to ‘win’ they were sure as hell going to have to work for it and would feel it in the morning.

Early on in the fight she thought she had heard Aurora’s voice but dismissed it for other more pressing issues. Apparently someone had tried to come to her aid and had gotten into the fray as well. A few glimpse of turquoise colored armor intermixed with the standard issue dark colored flight suites was all she had seen.

Then silence filtered though as someone walked right into then out of the fight. Whomever it was had given her a breather by accident or design and she was damned well going to take advantage of it. Gathering her energy she pulled out of her two captors loosed grips, dropping into a crouch before delivering a wicked punch to the groin of the man in front of her. It was a damned dirty move but it worked. His howl apparently started up the fight again.

The one to her right reached down to try and grab her again so she threw herself back into his legs, ignoring the sharp pain from where his knee made contact with her shoulder blade. She lashed out with her own legs tripping the other one up as he went to the aid of his companion. The first’s weight came crashing down on her as he also stumbled forward, causing her to grunt loudly as her body protested the extra weight. Before he could scramble up or move, she hooked her legs around his neck and one shoulder then tried to kick and or slam his head and face into the concrete as much as the position allowed as at the same time she latched onto his leg and started biting as close to the back of the knee as possible.

During all this confusion and chaos somebody had called the MPs. It didn’t take them long to arrive and start pulling people apart to get to the heart of the matter. When they did, unsurprisingly it was Zan and one of the trio who by now was not.

“Someone grab her and get her off that man!” The MP in charge of the detail ordered.

Several tried but were bit and or kicked for getting to close.

“God Damn it! Someone restrain her.. NOW!”

“Just like wrestling with the steer back home at branding time,” Bluegrass said as he indicated the MPs trying to get to her to back out of the way. “Timing’ gotta be just right to do this..” he muttered right before darting in. With her back to him and her hands latched around a leg, he slipped his hands and arms up under hers then clasps his hands behind her neck and yanked up and back. He staggered several steps not because of her weight but because of the lack of it. He’d expected her to be heavier than she was.

Zan screamed in anger and frustration as her prey was taken away from her suddenly. Feet kicked wildly only to hit against unyielding surfaces, her hands couldn’t grip the slick surface and any movement of her head was reduced to useless twists and jerks.

Bluegrass had to struggle to stay balanced in the first few seconds of holding her, his fingers twisting into sweat, grime and blood soaked hair but he managed.

~~

The crowd parted like the Red Sea before Moses, and Aurora shoved her way through the gawkers and MPs to the pair in the middle, Zan snarling and thrashing while Bluegrass fought to keep them both upright.

"Good God, were you raised in a barn?" she demanded of the Cowboy, dodging a wild kick from Zan.  "Quit it, you brat.  You're going to hurt someone if you keep that up."

"'Gonna hurt someone'?  Lady, look around.  There're plenty a' people hurt already," Bluegrass declared, jerking out of instinct as Zan's teeth snapped near his arm.  "Quit that, Missy.  You'll only hurt yourself more'n you do me."

"Are you going to put her down, or do I have to wrestle her away from you like some sort of barbarian?  She's bleeding, for the love of God."

"So she can attack that bunch again?  I don't think so."

"She didn't attack them," Aurora declared hotly.  "She never attacks.  But is it her fault if she's better at defense than they are at attack.  Now put her down."

"Look. lady, I ain't big on formalities, but near as I can tell, you're still a cadet, and I'm a colonel.  So unless you plan to ask nicely, I ain't lettin' go of your fightin' furball here."

"Put her down, Colonel," a gravelly voice said, cutting through the crowd.

At Stargazer's order, Bluegrass let Zan go gently, setting her back on her feet.  She shook once, violently, throwing off Bluegrass's touch and glared at the populace in general.  When her gaze met Aurora's, she seemed to wilt a little.

"Onee-chan..."

Aurora tilted Zan's head about with a careful grip on her chin.  "Nothing too bad.  You had enough for today?"  She snorted at Zan's look.  "Okay, there is no such thing as enough.  But I think you'd better be done."  She looked to the MPs.  "I'm taking her back to the dorms.  My report will be in before tonight."

"Now wait one doggoned minute," Stargazer started, but Aurora cut him off.

"I know what you're doing here sir, and with all due respect, I'm not all that impressed with what I've seen of YOUR team.  Your top marksman is a sadistic bastard with a superiority complex, your pilot can't handle a simple reverse-thrust anti-gravity engine, and your own ability to protect your wingman is woefully underdeveloped.  I shudder to think what we'll find at your vaunted Hawk Haven.  Come on, Zan," she said, turning away.  "You're bleeding on Yuki's berth.  I trust someone WILL put it back, yes?"

"Mouthy one, she is," Bluegrass commented as the women left.

"Protecting her team," Stargazer returned with a shrug.  "Don't forget to put the plane back Colonel.  You borrowed it, you return it."

 

  
  



End file.
